Of Wolves and Metal
by 5-Tailed Wolf
Summary: Working Title Ed and Al meet a brother and sister in their travels for a way to restore themselves. The new duo is a female State Alchemist and her brother's soul, bound to a large wolf armor from their parents' old business. What could they all teach each other and will romance bloom? I really do suck at summaries, enjoy the story. For now it is a general rating.
1. Chapter 1

Of Wolves and Metal

(working title)

A pair of sky blue eyes watched as a small blond and a large suit of armor exit central, no doubt having just spoken with Mustang but the way the blond was ranting and flailing his arms. The eyes followed them as they rounded the corner toward the train station.

"Intriguing, eh brother?" The owner of the blue eyes asked her companion, which if you didn't know any better or didn't look close enough, was simply a large mechanical wolf/dog almost as large as a bear, it's head coming up to the 5'7" girl with the light blue eyes. Silver eyes could be seen through the eye holes in the metal wolf helm, but if you were to hear it speak, you would hear the echo of the voice bouncing around the interior, it was hollow, just as the the human-iod armor they watched walk down the road to the train.

"Is this truly necessary?" A deep older voice questioned the girl from the wolf armor. The voice sounded almost tired, even though a bound soul needed no sleep.

"Yes, because I want to see if it can be done. If, even with the Philosopher's Stone I have a chance to restore you." Was the determined, yet mono-tonal reply. "And they may know more about such things than we do."

She took out her silver pocket watch, the very same as the other State Alchemists, and took note of the time 2:45 pm.

"The next train leaves at 3, lets follow the brother." She said, putting the watch back into her pocket and began walking down the hill toward the station.

"Very well young'n." The wolf said and bolted past her, "keep up would ya slow-poke!" Clanking and chuckling as the girl chased after him laughing calling after the big metal beast, racing to the train.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

On the train

"Brother," a whisper came from the large suit of armor which contained the anchored soul of Alphonse Elric. "I think we're being followed."

"Yeah, I know." The blond next to him replied. Edward Elric, quickly glanced over to the hooded figure who had followed them onto the train and had sat down a few seats away. Ed could feel the figure stare at him every so often. "Let's just see if they cause any trouble." He stretched and folded his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. "Wake me up when we get close would you Al?"

"Sure thing brother."

The girl sat in her coat, glancing at the young blond every now and then, wondering if maybe she should introduce herself before they reached the next stop. Maybe it would make it easier to get him to understand if they had more time. She had left her brother in the cargo area of the train, but was now getting very lonely. She knew he would be fine but they were hardly ever separated; but she hoped that he would be more approachable with out a giant metal wolf next to her.

"The hell with it." She got up and began to walk to the cargo areas of the train.

She walked through 3 cars of people before coming to the first cargo car.

"Brother!" She called looking though all the trunks and suitcases. "Oi, Old man!"

"Don't call me that, you're not that much younger than me ya know!" Came the slightly muffled reply of her buried brother.

"On no, Howard! Where are you?" She began to dig and move though the luggage trying to find Howard in all the mess. _How can such a large armor get buried so well?! "_Damn it, hang on." She backed up and clapped her hands together, then slapped the floorboards. The blue light of alchemy lit the car and the floor rippled and moved all the cargo to reveal an upside down wolf armor squished against the wall.

The girl stared at him for a moment before falling to the floor in laughter. Her brother, still stuck mind you, just stares at her with silver eyes and huffs.

"Well i'm glad you find this hilarious, NOW GET ME UP WILL YA?"

The girl was still giggling as she stood back up but didn't move forward because out of the corner of her eye she saw a large figure blocking the doorway. She slowly turned to the figure with began to walk forward. Her hands twitched, wanting to defend herself but something in the back of her mind told her to wait.

"Alchemy without a Transmutaion Circle. I take it you've seen the Gate then. Question is, why are you following us?"

_Well I wasn't expecting to talk right now, but oh well I guess it can;t be helped._

"Yeah, that's true Sweetie. But I mean you no harm I promise." She said lowering her guard a bit and walking toward her contorted brother. "I was simply hoping I could ask you something." She reached down and pushed the armor to the left so it would land in it's side and therefore Howard could straighten himself out. He did, grunting and mumbling curses about whack job railways and crazy drivers. "Give it a rest Howard, you could have just stayed alert and not meditated until we found a place to stay." She laid her gloved hand on the wolf armor helm and tapped it gently. But the sound was not of soft hitting metal, but metal hitting metal. A fact that was not lost on Edward as he stood watching with wide eyes. Al had come in behind him and heard the whole thing as well.

"An anchored soul, just like me." Whispered the large armor. "So you attempted human transmutaion as well?"

The wolf armor lowered it's head.

"No," Came the deep voice, filled with pain. "Just a really bad recoil."

The girl lowered her head, her long bangs covering her eyes. Her shoulders shook in silent sobs.

"Hey," Alphonse knelt down next to the girl, as the wolf armor helm nudged her shoulder. "Are you ok?"

"Beth?" The wolf armor whispered.

Suddenly the girl stood up and ran for the door, once out she jumped up onto the roof of the next car, her long black coat fanning out as she spun to face the wind created by the momentum of the train.

"What was that all about?" Ed asked, crossing his arms and looking out the door.

The wolf sighed and clunked its way toward the door. "She feels responsible for the accident." He sat down just before the door. "We know that y'all are very similar to us, which is why we decided to follow you. We wanted to ask for your help and to hopefully tag along with ya if we could. Maybe we can find a way to get back what we lost together." Howard turned his helm toward the boys who were staring at him in shock. "We had to leave our home 'cause they forced us out because they assumed the same thing you did." His silver soul-fire eyes narrowed, a harsh laugh echoed through the armor. "They never gave us a chance to explain after we recovered."

"That's awful." Alphonse said, hanging his helm.

"Yeah." Muttered Ed. "So how did you guys end up here following us?"

"That part is easy, Beth there is a State Alchemist." Howard replied matter-of-factly.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Beth didn't come down from the top of the train until almost nightfall. When she did finally descend, her eyes were pink from either the wind or crying. She looked for the 2 armors and the blond but they weren't in the luggage car.

_Must have gone to sit down._ She thought as she walked through the cars back to where they had sat this morning. She saw the big armor waving at her as she approached, tapping the spot next to him. Helen sat down with a sigh as she looked at the blond and her brother. FullMetal had a journal out and was talking to Howard, getting his opinion on whatever was written down. She decided to officially introduce herself.

"You must be Alphonse Elric," She said looking at the armor, which turned it's helmet and looked at her with attentive soul-fire eyes. "I am Elizabeth, but most people call me Beth." She held out her hand with Alphonse took in his large glove and shook. "Are you an Alchemist too Al? Do you mind if I call you Al or do you prefer Alphonse?"

Al giggled a little which was odd for a large suit of armor to do before responding.

"Al is fine and yes I am but not a State Alchemist." He pointed to his brother, "He is though. I'm shocked though, most people get us confused."

"Well your mannerisms suggest whose who. One only has to observe to find truth. Eh, Brother?"

The two older brothers both looked up at this point, realizing that they were in their own world.

"Yep, that's an old philosophy. One that actually still has some credibility." Howard replied before looking back at Edward. "You have some fine notes there kid, maybe once we reach where we're going we can compare journals, I have all of mine with me."

"And who ends up carrying that trunk around?" Beth said, lifting her left eyebrow at her brother. "you really should consider making just one large journal you know."

"But each one is special and therefore individual."

"Sure sure, but I'm making a pack of some sort and you'll start carrying them. Maybe a big saddle that way you can carry me too eh?" She retorted with a small giggle.

"Do I look like a pack mule to you?" Howard's soul eyes narrowed at his sister.

"You're the size of one."

Beth leaned back with a smirk, knowing there wasn't much else he could say.

Ed and Al watched the small exchange smiling at the antics of the two.

"Anyway, Al." Beth turned her attention back to the large armor next to her. "What all can you do, alchemy wise?"

"Oh well lets see, I can do repairs of nearly anything except Ed's automail and a few more complex things like cars." Al's helmet hung down a bit, "I can also make toys to amuse myself." The last part was said quietly as if he were afraid to be called a child.

"Really? What kind of toys?"

"Anything really, I just need the right materials. I like animals the most though."

Beth looked at him with big blue eyes, being a big kid at heart she still liked the occasional toy but whenever they moved, she would give the toys she got to younger children who would have more fun with them and to keep their trunk light-ish.

"I'd love to see what you can make, if you don't mind sometime." A large smile on her face.

"Sure, when we get home I can gladly show you." Al replied happily.

Across from them, the older siblings watched happily as their youngers talked of toys like little kids. I made the two think of simpler times before alchemy and war.

"Looks like they became fast friends eh youngin?" Muttered Howard to Edward as the latter nodded his head and flipped to another page in the journal and began their discussion again about various variations of current formulas.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Night had fallen and Beth and Howard has switched spots so she could look though the journal and make her comments. Howard had been surprised at exactly how much she knew regarding the notes, making suggestions that he had thought of briefly but no voicing them due to needing time to experiment.

Beth yawned widely and drew her thin coat tighter around her torso. Even with the threadbare fabric, her body shivered slightly, as her eyes began to droop as she looked over the smaller Elric's shoulder, making a occasional comment of the circles he was drawing up. After a few moments of silence, Edward realized the girl had fallen asleep on his shoulder, breathing softly despite the occasional shiver.

Ed closed the journal and cleared his throat, a slight blush staining his cheeks. Beth stirred and looked up at the blond with half open, tired eyes.

"Sorry." She muttered, stifling a large yawn. "you're actually really comfy." She smiled before moving away enough to curl up into a ball in the seat, her head resting on her arms. She shivered again and pulled her coat tight.

Ed looked down at her and his blush got a bit deeper as he reached up and grabbed his big red coat from the overhead compartment. He fanned it out quietly and draped it over the girl, who got even smaller under the heavy material, completely covered from head to toe. She made a small sound of content and snuggled into the sleeve that he placed near her face. Ed smiled to himself as he settled back down to sleep, propped against the window. He closed his eyes thinking that the girl next to him was much like a kid and looked really cute when she was sleeping.

Howard and Al had watched the scene in front of them in silence, acting as though they were meditating. They both thought that Ed was being very chivalrous, giving up his coat, but Al didn't notice the blush on the young blond's cheeks as Beth's brother did.

His brotherly instincts told him to give the boy a stern warning, but another side told him, it's about time someone took an interest in his sweet little sister. She had been an outcast because of him for so long, he was afraid that if and when he finally died, she would be left all alone. They were all each other had left, and he both hoped and dreaded the day that someone would finally see past the automail and see his sister. He made a mental note to have a talk with the both boys whenever they had down time, seeing as how the blond was already snoring softly. He chuckled to himself and slipped into meditation, allowing his soul fire eyes to flicker into darkness as did Al and all 4 "slept" though the night as the train continued it's way to Rasambool.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The train stopped at the next station before Rasambool, with a slight shudder. As it was early morning and the conductor knew that the train crew could use the rest he announced that the train would be there for a few hours.

Howard's soul eyes flickered to life and he yawned, mostly out of habit at this point. The great jaws of the wolf armor opened revealing the intricate designs of the metal, the attention to detail displayed that the wolf was as exact as could be. The teeth were perfect to fit the scale of the body and even a tongue was created out of thin mettal, but served no purpose. He closed his jaw with a dull snap at the end of the yawn and looked over at the two human companions across from himself and Alphonse. What he saw warmed his non-existent heart as he chuckled and nudged Al's gloved hand gently to stir the larger armor. Al's eyes came to life as well and he looked down and Howard who dipped his nose to the left causing Al to turn and see what he saw. His large gloved hands came together and he rested his head on them. _They look soo cute!_ He thought.

During the night Beth had shifted positions and had ended up snuggling against Edward's leg and using it as a pillow. Even though most of his leg was auto-mail, his thigh was still flesh and warm to the girl's cold cheek. After that she had shifted again, resting her head on Ed's chest, pulling her legs up and covering both of them with the red coat. Ed's head had fallen and rested on top of Beth's, her soft hair and scent lulled him into a deeper sleep than he had ever been in, his left arm around the girl's shoulders unconsciously keeping the chill off the girl.

They looked so cute that Howard turned and reached into his leg bag and retrieved a camera that he and Beth used when they reached a new place. Al caught on and held out his hand for the device and snapped 3 pictures quickly and handed it back so no one would know.

Edward stirred first, his tired eyes blinking rapidly trying to banish the heavy sleep. He started to yawn but stopped when he finally registered the weight on his chest and looked down in surprise. A sleeping face was on his chest, tilted just slightly so her messy bangs only covered her right eye. She had her arms around his waist and she hugged him a bit tighter when he twitched, nervously looking at her older brother in the menacing wolf armor. Said armor just chuckled and laid his head on his large clawed paws to wait out his little sister.

Alphonse was holding in his laughter, only letting a few giggles slip as his elder brother blushed deeply and looked between all 3 of them, at a loss of what to do next.

"She doesn't sleep well." Whispered the wolf armor. "Always scared of being attacked if she sleeps. There must be something about you that makes her feel safe kid."

Ed looked at Howard and then back at the girl. He now saw the dark circles under her left eye and the faint worry lines on her forehead. _She must have had a rough time._ He thought as he scooted over to rest his back in the corner.

"May as well let her sleep til we get to where we're going." The blond muttered, shifting a bit more to get comfortable before closing his eyes again with his left arm still around the girl snuggled into his chest. He smiled to himself and how warm he felt at that moment, and briefly wondered why before sleep claimed him again as he rested his head on Beth's again.


End file.
